A mutual friend, Melissa, told me she'd come across my print hanging on Claudia's wall at a party one evening. Though Melissa had never seen the image before, she instinctively recognised it as one of mine and asked if she could take it down to confirm the details on the back of the frame.

As the print had sold in a Dutch auction at Brunswick Street Gallery, and I'd not known the buyer, it was strange and cool to hear of a friend's random encounter with it.

Sometime not long after that, Claudia and I met each other at an opening at BSG. From there we became fast friends and I discovered that, not only is she a voracious collector of the work of emerging artists, she is an emerging artist herself.

After numerous encounters at openings, and meeting up to discuss art and photography over coffee, the idea arose at her engagement party that we should try to do some sort of collaboration before I moved north. As she was off to Western Australia and the Northern Territory on exploratory jaunts, and I was crazy-busy with moving and such-like, we only had a small window of time to create images and plan our collaboration.

So, whilst I was mightily hungover from my leaving drinks the Sunday before I left Melbourne, we managed to coordinate a joint self-portrait exploring the concept of friendship or amistad.

We wanted to express how friendship does not only exist if the two friends are in the same place at the same time. It is also about the nature of the connection.

Working with Claudia was fun and inspiring, and we both regret the fact we hadn't worked together until just before I left, but we do intend to work together again in the future wherever we may meet; and irrespective of where we are, we will always remain strong friends with a wonderful connection.

Thank you to Claudia for the concept for this shoot, and for instigating my most public, partially-clothed self-portrait, joint or otherwise, to date. Not only did we agree on meeting in Fitzroy Gardens in the centre of Melbourne, we also managed (unintentionally) to time our shoot to coincide with seemingly unending foot traffic from the MCG after an AFL match! Suffice to say our presence and odd behaviour drew quite a lot of attention.

I was extremely flattered, as on viewing his work online, I was greatly impressed with his portraiture and painting technique.

When the next opportunity arose to view his work at Lindberg Contemporary in Collingwood, I was sure to visit in order to see his paintings up close.

Having gotten to know him better in person over the past two years I've found him to be particularly generous with his time, and willing to share his knowledge and experiences as a practicing artist.

I then also had the opportunity a few months ago to sit for him as a model for some sketches. One of his charcoal sketches from the session is shown above.

Aside from being rendered in caricature airbrush in a very short session by an artist-for-hire as a tourist at Disney World many years ago, I'd never sat for a painter or their sketching before. But knowing Paul's style of portraiture and being comfortable with him on a personal level made it really easy. We talked about representation, pricing, future plans, the sort of folk we enjoy portraying within our respective mediums, and numerous other subjects during the course of the afternoon, both whilst I sat for him, and over tea in breaks. The experience was very calming and inspiring for me, especially in a window of time that was otherwise quite stressful.

Unfortunately due to hectic schedules during the last month or two of my time in Melbourne, and his (at the time) impending wedding (now done, and he's relaxing in Thailand for a while), we weren't able to coordinate to arrange a second sitting, but I would definitely make time to sit for Paul when we are next in the same city.

For someone like myself who is something of a self-confessed control freak, who enjoys self-portraiture specifically for the fact I have total artistic control over all aspects of the image, you would think I'd consider "collaboration" to be a dirty word.

Not so, however.

Though until recently it's been something of a haphazard happening for me, it is fast becoming an experience I embrace and relish the fruits of.

Obviously in portraiture there is always at least some element of collaboration. Even where the concept and intention is primarily formulated and directed by the photographer, few models are totally malleable blank canvases and will undoubtedly always give some direction to a shoot through their actions, expressions, and reactions, both verbal and non-verbal. This includes what I refer to as "cameos" by friends within my 365 Days series.

Other portraiture shoots I've done have been very much collaborative and free-form, with myself and the model improvising off each other, props, locations, etc.

However, it's only in the past twelve months or so that my collaborations with others have involved me taking on a modeling role directed by another artist, or a two-way dialogue with another self-portrait artist, the first of these being as a model for Paul Louis Villani's "Born from this earth..." series.

Over the next few posts I'll showcase some of the collaborations (or modeling roles, in two instances) I've recently undertaken with three Melbourne artists I admire, and I look forward to the collaborations planned as part of my overseas travels in 2010.

As much as I tend to be quite insular in my work and enjoy the ultimate control that comes with self-portraiture, there is something amazingly freeing and inspiring about being directed by another artist you trust and admire; and working with other artists you admire is a fantastic way to learn more about the way they think and work, and the creative ideas and impulses they have.

i had a dream about this placeNow Playing: pulp - different classTopic: self-portraiture

Well, it's the second one I've had, but they're both the same. They start out that I'm in here, but it's not day or night. It's kind of half-night, you know? But it looks just like this, except for the light... - Mulholland Drive

So I have now officially moved. I am currently in a state of flux, otherwise known as Queensland.

The last week of my move was anything but smooth, given my removalists called me at 7:15am two days prior to the agreed collection date to let me know they were collecting my belongings anytime after 12pm that day. Apparently they were supposed to advise me of this trifling detail at some stage over the preceding weekend but hadn't seen fit to pick up the phone. Brilliant work on their part, given I had allowed for another two evenings of packing and therefore was not prepared at all for what ensued; not to mention one of the removalists in particular was rude, impatient, aggressive and totally unsympathetic to the position they had put me in. This easily became the worst experience I've had with a removalist company EVER.

Thankfully, despite all concerns to the contrary, they managed to deliver my belongings to my parents' place intact, and apart from a few items I'm still trying to locate, seemingly without anything going astray.

I have a few upcoming blog posts in the works, predominantly in relation to a couple of modelling roles and a collaboration I took on prior to my departure from Melbourne with some wonderful fellow artists. Hopefully I'll be able to post about those this weekend.

I also got the breathtakingly fantastic news today that I've been shortlisted for the Toyota Travel Award. Though a small superstitious part of me flinches at mentioning this out loud, I feel like I should share my joy at this achievement with the whole world as I've no guarantee of winning the grand prize, though I'll work my darnedest to do so.

So I will be back in Melbourne, albeit it briefly, sooner than I expected. However I won't be there for the opening or judging of Picture This 09 at Brunswick Street Gallery, but my work will be, and I will be in spirit. The show will be open for viewing on Saturday 12 September, and the official opening and announcement of prizes will be at 6pm Friday 18th September.

I have also left a few pieces in the storeroom at Brunswick Street Gallery, so feel free to contact myself or the gallery to find out which pieces if you're interested in purchasing.

If you also feel like voting, I have images in the Colour Theory and Gender Roles themes through JPG Magazine.

On a side note, a big thank you to those who came out for my leaving drinks, and to Mat for his patience with me as a not-sure-if-i'm-coming-or-going house guest for the last few weeks I was in Melbourne.

she wears a sundress in the middle of winterNow Playing: flats & the friendly few - this man's junk (single)Topic: self-portraiture

Wow. Almost a month without an update. Anyone would think I'd moved house...

But I haven't yet. Well, not properly. I'm currently staying with my friend Mat as I sold my bed two Saturdays ago, and I've been packing and sorting and garage-sale-ing and exhibiting and all manner of other things.

Unsensored09 and Corangamarah Art Prize have both been and gone.

The opening of Unsensored09 was very enjoyable, catching up with other Silver Miners and also with a friend I randomly ran into about a month or so ago whom I hadn't seen for about 10 years, and meeting his lovely wife.

The opening of Corangamarah Art Prize at Otway Estate Winery & Brewery was also a great night. Meeting those behind the prize, being interviewed briefly for the Colac Herald, and being totally spoilt by attentive staff ensuring I got enough vegetarian fare during the course of the evening. The food was absolutely delicious.

The work in both exhibitions was very strong and I was pleased to see my work hanging alongside Simone Maynard's again this year, and also Samantha Everton's work, another Melbourne-based photographer I greatly admire.

Despite my initial intentions of these two exhibitions being my last in Melbourne and surrounds for a while, I'll have three prints on display in Brunswick Street Gallery's Picture This '09 exhibition opening at 6pm on 11 September 2009 and running to 24 September, and Mark is holding a number of my prints in his storeroom ready for a new display room to be opened in the gallery in a few months.

And my plans for overseas travels in 2010 are coming along nicely :D

As you might imagine, with all the upheaval of my impending move I haven't had much time to edit new images, though I have been shooting, but above is a new self-portrait I took last weekend in Jessica Tremp's backyard before setting off for James & Jo's wedding.

Hopefully we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming in September!

oh... and this dress? one of two new favourites from my soon-not-to-be-local-op-shop. each dress was only $6.99! i'll miss that place *sob*

I promise, this is not just another tease! We were so close to releasing the book to the general public at the beginning of April, then found out we could donate the proceeds to Madre after all, which meant a bit more administration work before the book could be set free to fly into your hands.

A lot of love, a lot of work, and a lot of lovely ladies make this book a true slice of awesome!

I did another client portrait shoot this week: an author photo for Lisa Dempster's forthcoming book, Neon Pilgrim; and received my new book in time for the first Melbourne Blurb meet.

I went to see Salvador Dali: Liquid Desire at the NGV last week. I spent four hours absorbing this comprehensive retrospective of his work, bought a catalogue and am thankful that I bought an unlimited entry ticket to the exhibition as I'll definitely be going back to soak it all in more.

My lovely friend Claudia Phares seems to be gathering a little collection of my "dead things". I went to her engagement party last night and was proud to see prints of Every Living Creature Dies Alone and Feathered Friend hanging side by side at the top of the stairs on arrival. We both mentioned last night that we must do a collaboration before I leave, so hopefully when she is back from her trips to WA & NT we will come up with something :D

Yesterday Feih and I drove down to Colac to deliver Truth Lies Beyond for exhibition in the Corangamarah Art Prize 2009, wandered around Colac Cemetery taking photos, then dropped into the Otway Estate Winery & Brewery to check out the space where my work will hang as a finalist for the second year in a row. I'm making plans to be able to attend the exhibition this year, and if you're interested and in Victoria, tickets are $20 and include fabulous food, a complimentary glass of wine, music, art and Wine Game. RSVPs are required to be received by Julie Rippon at Colac Area Health by 31 July, so if you need any further information or want to purchase tickets drop me a line and I can pass on more details :D

And as you can see from the invite at the start of this post, the night before that opening, I will have a piece in unsensored09 at the Collingwood Gallery! All details you need to make it to the opening if you live in Melbourne are included above. Hope to see you there!

I mentioned not too long ago that in order to lighten my load for the move, I'm looking to sell a few framed prints I have from previous exhibitions (and one which has never been exhibited).

So if you're in Melbourne* and you're interested, below is what I have available. I've included the original price, but you can make me an offer, and of course if you can collect, then shipping & handling is waived. To make an offer, email me at propaganda@bronwenhyde.com

Clicking the images will take you to the larger uncropped version on my site.

Alternate Worlds series: All 20" x 20" prints, matted, plain black 4cm "box" frames with outer dimensions of 77.5cm (w) x 77.5cm (h) Each is #1 in a limited edition of 5, signed, numbered and dated Original price for each was $400 plus postage & handling You can view them at exhibition here to see framing

Asylum series: All 10.5" x 7" prints, matted, ornate white frames with outer dimensions of 54.5cm x 47.5cm Each is #1 in a limited edition of 10, signed, numbered and dated Original price for each was $395 plus postage & handling

365 Days series: i remember a time when once you used to love me12"x16" print, matted, plain black 3cm "box" frame with outer dimensions of 62cm (w) x 79.5cm (h) #1 in a limited edition of 10, signed, numbered and dated Original price was $350 plus postage & handling

*You're welcome to contact me if you're outside of Melbourne, but shipping costs can be pretty high, you've been warned. If you're in Brisbane feel free to contact me too, as I'll be able to deliver in September without the exorbitant shipping costs!